1st year male Linnet and comparing Chichaff and willow Warbler primary feathers.
Female Greenland Wheatear - colour ringing scheme
I relived my youth this weekend when I spent Friday night at a bird observatory. I watched the sun go down over the Great Orme from a different angle as I took my lad Aled to stay on Hilbre Island in the Dee estuary. What a treat it was; great craic, lovely weather and some half decent birds too. Twelve birds were caught in the traps during the day, made up of six species. Highlight for me was a cracking female Greenland Wheater, a monster of a bird. 2 Chiff chaff, 5 Willow Warbler, Blackbird, 2 Linnet and Wren made up the supporting cast. Birds seen included male Eider, 3 Common Tern, 50+ Sandwhich Tern, 3 House Martins, 15+ Wheatears (vast majority Greenland birds) and 240+ Bar tailed Godwits. Seeing Common Seal within a few metres was a treat as was the many Atlntic Grey Seals too. I'm looking forward to go back and can understand what draws some of our blog contributors away to observatories such as Bardsey each year. Cheers to Steve and Phil for the hospitality. Check out the Hilbre blg here - http://www.hilbrebirdobs.blogspot.com// it has relevance to North Wales as when Hilbre usually has a good day so do the North Wales migration hotspots.
When i was birding round Cheshire as a youngster, i used to dream about staying there! Nice one!
ReplyDeleteMike.